Sunday, July 30, 2017

July 30, 2017


NEXT TIME
  
Next time I’ll ask….
Next time I’ll laugh….
Next time I’ll try harder….
Next time I’ll hesitate ….
Next time I’ll say, “No!”
Next time I’ll say, “Yes!”
Next time I’ll read the directions….
Next time I’ll leave a message….
Next time I’ll take a wall seat ….
Next time I’ll turn the TV off….
Next time I’ll get more sleep ….
Next time I’ll ask if I have a vote ….
Next time I’ll find out, “Who’s who?”
Next time I’ll walk….
Next time I’ll pick up the bill….
Next time I’ll ask if there is a next time….


© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017






Saturday, July 29, 2017

July 29, 2017

BELLS

Do you have any bells ringing
and they send their sound through your windows from a nearby church?

Listen! 
Maybe you do 
and you don't hear them.

Do you have any prayers
coming in your windows
from a nearby church or person?

Listen! 
Maybe they are sounding 
or praying for you and you don't hear them.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017










HOME  AGAIN 

Do we have to go home again
to figure out why we left home
in the first place? Distance does
make the heart grow fonder as
well as make the mind go wander.
Sometimes we have to see another
doing what we did, in order to see
what we did in the first place. Life….


© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
Scenes from the movie, Brooklyn

Friday, July 28, 2017

BACK  TO  SCHOOL: 
DANTE ALGHIERI 

Have you read Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso?

Before you die - before the Divine Comedy is over or begins, before you enter  Paradiso (Please God, please!) read Dante and see how close he was to how we pictured the hereafter.


Here are a few YouTube presentations on Dante. Go  through the lectures etc. before you read his Divine Comedy.






BACK TO SCHOOL: 
HIERONYMUS  BOSCH 

Once one looks at the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, we sort of can't forget them. They are tattooed onto one's memory.  

That happened to me.  

When I had the chance to visit Vienna, Austria in 1984, I had on my list of "Must See!" a museum that had some of the paintings of Bosch. "Woo!"  was my reaction.

Then when I was in  Bruges, Belgium, I saw some more of Bosch. Once more I thought, "Woo" and "Woe!"

The following are some talks and some stuff on Bosch. Visit these YouTube videos and find yourself in the middle of some fascinating imaginings. 

You can also find a lot more by going into Google and typing in "Hieronymus Bosch" - as well as, "YouTube Hieronymus Bosch".







July 28, 2017




DAILY   HELL

What was going on in the lives
of Hieronymus Bosch and Dante
Alghieri that they described their
daily life the way they did? Inferno!

My life:  not a golf course of horrors
like Bosch’s canvasses of naked
people jabbing people with spears and
gigantic knives cutting people in half.

Nor like a dark wood - in a midlife
crisis - like Dante’s journey through
an Inferno in the nine circles of hell,
navigating its hills and horrors.*

Daily hell? Of course there are everyday
problems like the crush and rush of
traffic jams - but there are also ice cream
cones on a hot summer night: Paradiso.

So Dante and Bosch - you’re a bit too much.
But Dante and Bosch - when I read your words
and look at your pictures, I’d have to admit,
I want heaven and to be far from hell. Amen.



© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
*"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita."



Dante [c. 1265-1321]
Great Nose

Dante listening to Dante
with his ear buds....


Thursday, July 27, 2017

JULY  27, 2017


MORE THAN WORDS

Talking to each other is much
more than words. Sometimes
the other hears our tone, our
volume, and hesitations and
our pauses - and what we are
not saying. Words, words ….
It’s so much more than simply
saying, “I’m listening. I’m here.
I love you. How are you today?”
  

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017